Radiation treatment plan optimization method and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026014392-A1
Application number	US-202418770078-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 11, 2024
Priority date	Jul 11, 2024
Publication date	Jan 15, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

A control circuit accesses at least one optimization factor and optimizes a radiation treatment plan by, at least in part, automatically selecting at least one treatment field angle as a function of that at least one optimization factor as well as a redundancy cost constraint.

First claim

1 . A method comprising:
by a control circuit:
accessing at least one optimization factor;
optimizing a radiation treatment plan by, at least in part, automatically selecting at least one treatment field angle as a function of:
the at least one optimization factor; and
a redundancy cost constraint.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one optimization factor corresponds to a patient's anatomical geometry.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the at least one optimization factor that corresponds to a patient's anatomical geometry comprises at least one metric representing, on a field-by-field basis and from a beam's eye point of view, overlap between a patient's target volume and at least one protected volume.

4 . The method of claim 2 wherein the at least one optimization factor that corresponds to a patient's anatomical geometry comprises at least one metric representing, on a field-by-field basis and from a beam's eye point of view, a quantity of voxels that are exposed to radiation.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein the quantity of voxels comprises an average number of voxels per beamlet.

6 . The method of claim 4 wherein the quantity of voxels that are exposed to radiation comprises a quantity of voxels that are exposed to radiation by a single beamlet from amongst a plurality of beamlets that comprise a therapeutic radiation beam.

7 . The method of claim 2 wherein the at least one optimization factor that corresponds to a patient's anatomical geometry comprises at least one metric representing, on a field-by-field basis and from a beam's eye point of view, both:
overlap between a patient's target volume and at least one protected volume; and
a quantity of voxels that are exposed to radiation.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the redundancy cost constraint represents an optimization cost imposed on redundant selections of treatment field angles, such that optimization of the radiation treatment plan favors fewer of a particular treatment field angle as versus more of treatment field angles that are different from the particular treatment field angle.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least one optimization factor and the redundancy cost constraint are weighted.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein both the at least one optimization factor and the redundancy cost constraint are weighted.

11 . An apparatus comprising:
a control circuit configured to: access at least one optimization factor; and optimize a radiation treatment plan by, at least in part, automatically selecting at least one treatment field angle as a function of:
the at least one optimization factor; and
a redundancy cost constraint.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the at least one optimization factor corresponds to a patient's anatomical geometry.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the at least one optimization factor that corresponds to a patient's anatomical geometry comprises at least one metric representing, on a field-by-field basis and from a beam's eye point of view, overlap between a patient's target volume and at least one protected volume.

14 . The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the at least one optimization factor that corresponds to a patient's anatomical geometry comprises at least one metric representing, on a field-by-field basis and from a beam's eye point of view, a quantity of voxels that are exposed to radiation.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the quantity of voxels comprises an average number of voxels per beamlet.

16 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the quantity of voxels that are exposed to radiation comprises a quantity of voxels that are exposed to radiation by a single beamlet from amongst a plurality of beamlets that comprise a therapeutic radiation beam.

17 . The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the at least one optimization factor that corresponds to a patient's anatomical geometry comprises at least one metric representing, on a field-by-field basis and from a beam's eye point of view, both:
overlap between a patient's target volume and at least one protected volume; and
a quantity of voxels that are exposed to radiation.

18 . The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the redundancy cost constraint represents an optimization cost imposed on redundant selections of treatment field angles, such that optimization of the radiation treatment plan favors more differing treatment field angles as versus fewer similar treatment field angles.

19 . The apparatus of claim 11 wherein at least one of the at least one optimization factor and the redundancy cost constraint are weighted.

20 . The apparatus of claim 11 wherein both the at least one optimization factor and the redundancy cost constraint are weighted.

Assignees

• Siemens Healthineers Int Ag

Inventors

• Valenzuela Daniel
• Peltola Jarkko

Classifications

• A61N5/1031 Primary

  using a specific method of dose optimization · CPC title

• A61N5/1047

  with movement of the radiation head during application of radiation, e.g. for intensity modulated arc therapy or IMAT · CPC title